Samela
Like to Diana in her summer weed,Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye,Goes fair Samela.Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feedWhen wash’d by Arethusa faint they lie,Is fair Samela.As fair Aurora in her morning grey,Deck’d with the ruddy glister of her loveIs fair Samela;Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd dayWhenas her brightness Neptune’s fancy move,Shines fair Samela.
Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams,Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivoryOf fair Samela;Her cheeks like rose and lily yield forth gleams;Her brows bright arches framed of ebony.Thus fair SamelaPasseth fair Venus in her bravest hue,And Juno in the show of majesty(For she’s Samela!),Pallas in wit,--all three, if you well view,For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity,Yield to Samela.
Words in this poem
- diana n.
- The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- straggling a.
- from Straggle, v.
- aurora n.
- The rising light of the morning; the dawn of day; the redness of the sky just before the sun rises. [L. aurora, for ausosa, akin to Gr. ushas, and E. east.]
- glister v. i.
- To be bright; to sparkle; to be brilliant; to shine; to glisten; to glitter. [OE. glistren; akin to G. glistern,glinstern, D. glinsteren, and E. glisten. See Glisten.]
- pallas n.
- Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Samela is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, Project Gutenberg ebook #66619; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Greene, Samela, in Poems (1560–1592), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #66619, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/obev-robert-greene/samela.html, id L15977.
Form and metre
Samela is 24 lines in 2 stanzas of 12 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABCABCDECDEC weedA · dyeB · samelaC · feedA · lieB · samelaC · greyD · loveE · samelaC · dayD · moveE · samelaC
- 2 A-BA-BC-BC-B streamsA · ivory · samelaB · gleamsA · ebony · samelaB · hueC · majesty · samelaB · viewC · dignity · samelaB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Like to Diana in her summer weed, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Girt with a crimson robe of brightest dye, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Goes fair Samela. | 5 | ····· |
| Whiter than be the flocks that straggling feed | 10 | /·····/˘˘· |
| When wash’d by Arethusa faint they lie, | 10 | ·········· |
| Is fair Samela. | 5 | ····· |
| As fair Aurora in her morning grey, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Deck’d with the ruddy glister of her love | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Is fair Samela; | 5 | ····· |
| Like lovely Thetis on a calmèd day | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Whenas her brightness Neptune’s fancy move, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Shines fair Samela. | 5 | ····· |
| Her tresses gold, her eyes like glassy streams, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Her teeth are pearl, the breasts are ivory | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Of fair Samela; | 5 | ····· |
| Her cheeks like rose and lily yield forth gleams; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Her brows bright arches framed of ebony. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Thus fair Samela | 5 | ····· |
| Passeth fair Venus in her bravest hue, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And Juno in the show of majesty | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| (For she’s Samela!), | 5 | ····· |
| Pallas in wit,--all three, if you well view, | 10 | ·········· |
| For beauty, wit, and matchless dignity, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Yield to Samela. | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.